🔥 Stripe Is on Fire: $61B M&A Blitz
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
Stripe is having quite the summer 🤯
The payments giant is reportedly back in talks with Advent to acquire PayPal at ~$54B, which is currently valued at around $52.8B.
If it closes, that's one of the biggest FinTech deals in years.
And that's not all. Stripe is also said to be paying over $7B for OpenRouter, the startup that helps developers route between 400+ AI models to find the cheapest, fastest option.
That's 30% below the $10B figure floated weeks ago, but still a 5x jump from the $1.3B valuation it raised at just months ago.
Acquisition summer, indeed.
Scroll down for more FinTech news 👇
Cheers,
INSIGHTS
💡 AppsFlyer: Winning Mobile Banking Users — From Acquisition to Long-Term Value. Banking apps have become essential digital channels, but banks still face challenges around privacy, fraud, fragmented customer journeys, and measuring business-critical conversions across app, web, email, and other channels. AppsFlyer helps banks connect granular measurement, deep linking, re-engagement, and attribution to understand what drives meaningful outcomes — from onboarding and KYC completion to product usage and long-term customer value — while maintaining privacy and regulatory compliance. Read the full article here
FINTECH NEWS
🇺🇸 FINNY AI rolls out a "Pay-as-You-Grow" pricing model for its AI powered advisor marketing platform. LPL Financial has added FINNY to its preferred vendor list, with advisors paying $50 per month plus a tiered fee on assets the platform brings in.
🇺🇸 Melio launches Expense Management for SMBs, letting businesses track and categorize card expenses in real-time without switching cards. The tool automates receipt collection and syncs to accounting software alongside existing bills and payments.
🇺🇸 Kalshi ordered to stop a broad range of prediction markets in Washington. A judge barred contracts tied to sports, elections, politics, and entertainment, ruling that federal commodities law does not preempt Washington gambling law.
🇺🇸 Alpaca Derivatives registers as a futures commission merchant with the CFTC and becomes an NFA member. The registration enables Alpaca to offer access to event contracts traded on prediction markets.
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇺🇾 dLocal celebrated its spot among the World's Top FinTech Companies 2026, a ranking from Statista published by CNBC. The company's name appeared on the Nasdaq screen in recognition of its global payments infrastructure.
🇯🇵 PayPay reaches 75 million registered users in Japan, covering over half the population. Payment transactions hit 8.88 billion in 2025, a 19% increase YoY and over 20% of all domestic cashless payments.
🌍 BRICS members discuss linking instant payment systems and CBDCs to improve cross-border payments. Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra said proposals remain at the discussion stage with no common infrastructure yet approved.
🇺🇸 oBook Holdings reports preliminary first-half 2026 revenue, disclosing its latest financial results to investors. The Nasdaq-listed company shared early revenue figures ahead of its formal half-year financial reporting.
🇧🇹 Binance Pay goes live across 3,700+ merchants in Bhutan, integrated with DK Bank's domestic QR network. The expansion builds on a 2025 tourism pilot and lets visitors pay with crypto by scanning existing QR codes.
🇺🇸 Expensify launches spend rules for its Visa Commercial Card, letting admins control where, when, and how each card is used. Rules cover merchant restrictions, single use limits, expiry dates, and currency controls across 14 countries.
🇰🇼 Central Bank of Kuwait tightens accounting and fraud reporting rules for electronic payment and exchange companies. The directives require proper classification of partners' funds and new procedures for handling judicial freezing requests.
ARTICLE OF THE DAY
💡 DashDevs: Poland’s Bank-App Payment Network. BLIK is Poland’s leading bank-app-based payment method, covering e-commerce, POS, transfers, ATMs, and recurring payments. For merchants and fintechs, it offers strong local customer adoption and less reliance on international card rails. Most businesses integrate BLIK through a PSP or acquirer, making the key challenge not the API itself, but getting the right payment flow, reconciliation, and operations in place. Read the full article here
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇸🇬 Revolut Ultra launches in Singapore with unlimited lounge visits and airport fast-track access. The premium tier adds travel perks and lifestyle benefits, positioning Revolut as a high-end travel banking option in Southeast Asia.
🇬🇧 Monzo named UK's most recommended bank by customers for the 12th time, topping the CMA service quality rankings again. The neobank now serves 16 million customers and recently reached one million business users.
🇦🇪 Commercial Bank of Dubai becomes the first UAE bank to launch multi-bank payment initiation, following CBUAE approval as a Third Party Provider. The feature lets customers initiate payments from other banks via the CBD app.
🇮🇳 Airtel Payments Bank names Shabnam Sinha as new Chairperson, effective October 1 for a three year term. Sinha, a former World Bank adviser, succeeds Sunil Bharti Mittal after receiving RBI approval for the appointment.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇪🇺 Unlimit secures a licence to provide digital asset services across the EU, enabling crypto offerings under a single approval. The authorization removes the need for separate licences in each member state.
🇳🇬 Blockchain.com receives initial approval to operate in Nigeria's digital asset market. The SEC approved its participation in the Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Program, allowing supervised testing of its services.
🇨🇾 Perpetual Markets MTF secures MiCA authorization in Cyprus, expanding its regulated European trading venue into crypto. The license allows the platform to offer crypto trading services to clients across the EU under a single regulatory framework.
🇨🇭 UBS ramps up its Bitcoin exposure with a 24-fold surge in holdings. The Swiss bank's dramatically increased Bitcoin position signals growing institutional appetite for crypto assets.
🇦🇪 Bybit adds Unitree and Moonshot AI to its pre-IPO perpetuals lineup, expanding its structured product offering. The exchange now lets traders gain leveraged exposure to private-stage AI and robotics companies.
STABLECOIN
🌏 Tether CEO shuts down blockchain rumors, stating the company is not building its own chain. Ardoino said Tether remains agnostic and supports many transport layers for its stablecoins.
🇨🇳 China's central bank adds eight banks as digital yuan operators, including Ping An Bank, Bank of Shanghai, and Bank of Hangzhou. The expansion brings the total number of authorized operators to 30.
PARTNERSHIPS
🇸🇬 Thunes expands Web3 infrastructure with EURC to enable instant euro treasury funding. The integration of Circle's MiCA-compliant stablecoin lets network members prefund transactions and manage treasury flows around the clock.
🇸🇬 Thunes to support Fiserv's real-time global payouts for platforms, connecting Fiserv clients to its cross-border payment network. The partnership enables platforms to send real-time payouts to recipients in over 130 countries.
🇺🇸 Fiserv and Flagstar Bank announce a strategic core banking relationship, with Flagstar selecting Finxact as the foundation of its modernization strategy. The cloud native platform will replace legacy technology in a phased approach.
🌍 BEAC and ProgressSoft reach a new milestone in modernizing payment infrastructure across Central Africa. The collaboration advances the regional instant payment system to support faster, more reliable transactions for member states.
🇯🇵 Minna no Ginko signs a bank agency agreement with Revolut Technologies Japan, strengthening BaaS collaboration. The deal deepens integration between the Japanese digital bank and Revolut's next generation financial app.
🌍 Afriex partners with Global Innovations Bank on cross-border payments, expanding settlement and regulatory coverage for its B2B Payments API. The collaboration provides businesses with access to global USD accounts across 35+ countries.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇫🇷 Ingenico secures $150 million in fresh capital to fund its next phase of growth. The payment terminal maker raised the new financing to accelerate its strategic development.
🇳🇬 Pouchers raises $500,000 in pre-seed funding to expand cross-border payments for Nigerians. Read more
🇳🇿 AI finance startup Sterling raises NZ$3.8 million in seed funding. The New Zealand company builds AI tools for finance teams. Read more
M&A
🇺🇸 Stripe clinches over $7 billion deal to buy AI firm OpenRouter, which helps developers switch between AI models. OpenRouter serves 8 million developers and raised at a $1.3 billion valuation just months ago.
🇧🇷 StoneX announces acquisition of Banco Travelex, expanding its presence in Brazil's financial services market. The deal strengthens StoneX's banking and foreign exchange capabilities in Brazil.
🇬🇧 VP Fintech buys crypto gateway Globalnex in a £10 million share deal. The all-share transaction adds payment gateway technology to deepen VP Fintech's exposure to crypto payments infrastructure.
🇺🇸 Western Union gets New York approval for its Intermax acquisition, but still faces regulatory hurdles in California. Continue reading
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
🇬🇧 Banking veteran Hoffman to step down as Monzo chairman after leading the board since the neobank's early growth years. Keep reading
🇺🇸 Jack Dorsey to lead Square again as CEO Alyssa Henry steps down after nine years. Dorsey will take over as "Square Head" on Oct. 2, adding the role to his existing Block Head title.
🇨🇾 Revolut appoints Georgios Vasiliou to head its Cyprus crypto unit as CEO. Vasiliou, previously CEO of Trading.com, replaces founding CEO Costas Michael, who moves to a board advisor role.
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